NCAA: Brazilians downed in the first rounds of Madness

[by Gustavo Machado Cardoso] - Eddie Lima, Gabe Garcia, Fábio Nass, Coach Walter Roese, and wonderkid Johnatan Tavernari were ousted on their first weekend of March Madness, ending the Brazilian season early in the NCAA.

Lima, in his first season of D1 play (he played 2 years of JUCO ball in Arizona), saw his Titans drop their first game of the tourney, after a great season (24 wins and 9 losses, only 2 within their conference). Despite Josh Akognon’s 31 points, the Badgers taller squad, and its overall confidence (they were coming off a Big Ten tourney win) prevailed (71-56).

Eddie came off the bench, played for just one minute in his final game of the season, and went scoreless. The 280 pounder “pernambucano” played in only 11 games this season, and averaged 1.5 points, and 1.1 rebounds in 5.2 minutes per game. Certainly less than what he did for Arizona Western in the two previous years.

Gabe Garcia, another JUCO player to move up to D1, did not see any action in the last game of the season of the Golden Flashes. His team played a miserable first half, scoring 10 points, and trailed UNLV throughout the game (71-58).

Kent State finished the regular season with 13 wins and only 3 losses in the East region of the Mid American conference. However, that did not come from Garcia’s efforts. The 7 footer played in only 5 games this season, and hopes to have more chances in his senior year.

Fabio Nass, the reserve center for the Miami Hurricanes, who has also not played much during the season, was unable to reach the Sweet 16. The Hurricanes lost to Texas (72-75) after a strong win against St Mary’s (78-64) in the first round.

In that occasion Nass played for only one minute, but on yesterday's game, his last in the NCAAs, he sat out for the entire game. The Brazilian finished his senior season with an average of 2.1 points in just over 6 minutes of playing time (he played in only 9 games).

Walter Roese, an assistant coach at University of San Diego, also said goodbye to the competition. After knocking UConn off in the first round (70-69), the Toreros were unable to beat Western Kentucky yesterday evening (63-72). The team fought against a 16 point deficit, but could not overcome the Kentucky program.

Despite the loss, the year ends on a very good note for the Toreros as this was the school’s first trip to NCAA post season.

Johnatan Tavernari is the Brazilian to watch in the NCAA. He has improved his game since last year, and has been a great asset to coach David Rose, in Provo. The Brazilian led all Cougars in the game against Texas A&M with 15 points, just two points above his season average of 13.1 points per game.

This was Brigham Young’s second best season in history (27-8), and its fifth trip to the tourney in the last 8 years. Tavernari, one of Brazil’s top prospects born in 1987, played a very important role throughout the season, sharing leadership responsibilities with Lee Cummard and Trent Plaisted.

The game against the Aggies on Thursday was a nailbiting experience for college hoops fans. After a first half tie (29-29), both teams continued to played competitively until the final minute of the game. The Cougars came off a 6 point deficit to tie at 60 points. At the end it was a Joseph Jones free throw, with 11 seconds away, that put the Texans on the second round.

“It could have gone either way”, said Tavernari after the game. The Sao Bernardo kid will come back next year for his junior year, but Brazilians might see some of his action before November in case he gets to work for Moncho Monsalve’s National Team in the Qualifier for the Beijing Olympics. He has got the game.